I was embarrassed when our Coalition Cabinet line-up was confirmed - one woman in Cabinet, no matter how outstanding that one is, is not enough, writes Sue Boyce.

If I hear the phrase 'woman of merit' one more time, I'll, I'll…do something drastic.

When was the phrase 'men of merit' last used? Is every male MP a 'man of merit'?

Good, then let's stop this nonsense about waiting for 'women of merit' to spontaneously arise within the Coalition parties to join the Cabinet.

'Women of merit' is a term used by ultra-conservatives who want to maintain the status quo - it's a smokescreen for sexism.

There have been numerous extraordinary and outstanding Liberal women MPs over the years - my Queensland predecessor Dame Annabelle Rankin comes to mind; Julie Bishop is a current example; but to pretend that a few outstanding women constitute a thoughtful approach to gender equality is nonsense.

I was embarrassed when our Coalition Cabinet line-up was confirmed - one woman in Cabinet, no matter how outstanding that one is, is not enough.

I'm embarrassed within Australia for my party; overseas I'll be embarrassed for my country although Chris Bowen's suggestion that Afghanistan is doing better in the women minister stakes needs more analysis.

The International Parliamentary Union released a report last week calling on the Afghani Government to do more to stop the kidnapping and bombing of women MPs and their families!

The potential for Tony Abbott to be perceived as misogynist and/or sexist was clearly identified as a serious risk by Liberal strategists during the election campaign.

The risk was managed and mitigated by involving Mrs Abbott and their daughters in the campaign.

In my experience, Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott is not sexist, but the risk has not gone away simply because the Coalition achieved a stunning victory.

How well Mr Abbott, the Cabinet and the Liberal strategists manage the 'gender issue' will feed into whether the Australian people allow us to govern for three years, six years or longer.

As Prime Minister, Tony Abbott has had to assemble a ministerial team based on the people who have won parliamentary seats.

The number of sitting women MPs rose from three to four when Michelle Landry joined Teresa Gambaro, Karen Andrews, and Jane Prentice. There are 18 men.

We won't improve those numbers by waiting for women to knock on the preselection or Cabinet door - we need to go 'outside' and genuinely look for answers to the question 'Why don't women of merit want to join us?'

Some years ago, as President of the Liberal Women's Council in Queensland, I held some workshops to ask women that question.

There were many answers include the way 'work' as a Federal MP is structured, but answers were as simple as: "I don't have the confidence to speak up at branch meetings - others might think my opinion is stupid".

The Liberal Party is the party of business so we should be applying business principles to this serious problem - the Federal and State Executives need to develop formal plans with measurable targets to increase the number of women MPs, so that by 2025 it will be completely unremarkable that a Coalition Cabinet is roughly half women and half men.

And I'm sure that the men will have just as much merit as the women.

Sue Boyce is a Liberal Senator for Queensland. View her full profile here.

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